No selfie control. A photo of Hillary Clinton waving to a huge crowd has gone viral — because everyone has turned their backs to the Democratic presidential nominee to take selfies with her.
Clinton, 68, was campaigning in Orlando on Wednesday, September 21, when the mass of people all pivoted away from her in an attempt to capture themselves and the presidential hopeful in the same frame. The photo opp took place when Clinton went to say hello to people in an overflow room, since some of her supporters couldn’t fit into the main event.
Some people slammed the picture on social media, saying it’s a representation of millennials who are overly obsessed with selfies instead of living in the moment. “Does anyone else find this photo kinda sad?” one tweeter wrote, while another added, “She might look you in the eye, personally. She might speak with you, one-to-one. How can that happen if [you] want selfies?”
Others thought the photo was pretty epic. Clinton’s official campaign photographer, Barbara Kinney, who snapped the pic, told Time that the former secretary of state suggested they all take a group selfie. It was “one of those moments that just organically comes together,” Kinney said. “It was pretty amazing to be there and capture it.”
Apparently my photo of the massive selfie has “gone viral” as someone emailed me tonight. Wow……. https://t.co/u2tKEJr0du
— Barbara Kinney (@barb_kinney) September 26, 2016
Clinton has previously spoken about the infiltration of selfies into political events. “It’s turned into this thing,” she told Ellen DeGeneres in January. “It used to be, you know, when I campaigned, not just for my husband, but for other people as well, and even back in the ’08 campaign, you would finish an event and you would shake hands. … And so, you can see them try to say, ‘Do I talk to her about, you know, I lost my job and I can’t, I’ve been looking for a long time, and what is she doing to do to help me?’ Or do I say, ‘Can I have a selfie?’ And most people say, ‘Can I have a selfie?’”
